


A Lonely Boy

by cruelest_month



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Bargaining, Conversations, Gen, M/M, Monsters, Romance, on a boat, season 1 AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22024081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cruelest_month/pseuds/cruelest_month
Summary: An AU for Season 1 where, after dealing with Jane Prentiss in his flat, Martin decides to take a bit of a sea voyage.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Peter Lukas
Comments: 2
Kudos: 49
Collections: End-of-Year Exchange 2019





	A Lonely Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fatal_drum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fatal_drum/gifts).



Martin is not sure what he’s thinking or if he’s thinking at this point. Maybe he should have gathered up the worms instead and marched into Jon’s office with them. Maybe he should have tried a more conventional way to avoid the Institute for a bit longer.

The man in front of him sips his coffee and doesn’t say much of anything at first. Eventually he smirks slightly, his dark eyes never quite meeting Martin’s. “As much as I’d love to help you disappear, Elias wouldn’t like it.”

Martin blinks.

“Your boss. His name is still Elias Bouchard, right?”

How is the world so very small when Martin needs it to be so very big? “…yes.”

“You ought to run along home. Working on the Tundra is nothing like collecting statements.”

Martin picks up his mug of coffee, confused to find it still warm. He takes a sip and decides that if this Peter Lukas fellow knows about Elias… Well, he can know about other matters. “This thing… Jane Prentiss… it kept me in my apartment for a week and no one noticed. Maybe I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again.”

Peter Lukas looks amused then solemn. “There’s a rather exacting price for working for me. Steeper for some than for others.”

“I’m willing to pay it.”

Peter Lukas leans forward, his fingers brushing Martin’s cheek. “Something tells me you always are,” he murmurs. “How about this? I’ll handle Elias and allow you on my ship _if_ you keep me company for a fortnight.”

Martin makes a face. He’s already been kept company by a swarm for quite some time.

Peter caresses Martin’s chin and smiles. “I’m trying to spare you from something you know only too well already. You’d be a tasty treat for it, no doubt, but I’d rather have you to myself for a little while. Don’t fret. I’ll let you go again.”

“I can work.”

“Elsewhere. Martin… A simple yes or no will suffice. All I’m trying to do is give you a vacation from a job where the likelihood of you ever having one again is nonexistent. Am I so very unappealing?”

Martin isn’t sure what to make of the other man’s tone. Peter Lukas sounds as if either answer would please him. But Peter Lukas isn’t unappealing at all. And while he still doesn’t directly meet Martin’s gaze, this quirk strikes him more as something a shy, retiring person would do than a monstrous sea captain.

Peter Lukas clears his throat, sipping his coffee once more. “Take it or leave it, Martin Blackwood. I’ve a heap of tedious interviews to conduct today and little patience for them. It’ll be that much worse if you say no, but you’re welcome to decline or accept as you see fit.”

“I accept,” Martin decides more than a little surprised with himself. But he's curious and afraid and he needs time away. He needs something different. “Only…”

Peter Lukas laughs. “Ah, Martin. Only what now?”

Martin blushes slightly. “Only I don’t know what to do about clothes or supplies or anything. I don’t even have my mobile. My apartment…”

“Ah, that is a pickle,” Peter Lukas agrees. He slides Martin’s resume across the table between them along with a pencil. “Give me your details –sizes and such - and I’ll sort you out too.”

Despite the tips of his ears turning red, Martin writes down the requested information. “I can send you the money—”

Peter snorts, folding up the resume and putting it into a coat pocket. “That’s very kind, of course, and sweet… But terribly misguided. Room and board are the least I offer you for the pleasure of your company.”

Martin blushes again before paling. It occurs to him he hasn't exactly found out much about the nature of this transaction. “About that…”

“You might not need much in the way of clothing?” Peter Lukas asks cheerfully. “I tend to agree.”

Martin frowns. “You interrupt a lot. I’d like to finish a sentence if you don’t mind.” His tone indicating that Peter Lukas had best not mind if he knew what was good for him.

  
Peter Lukas huffs. His lips twist before settling into a grin. “A terrible habit. Dreadfully sorry.”

  
Martin nods, sighing inwardly. “So you do want… for two weeks… with me?” he manages in a small voice.

  
“I’ll need you to be far more specific once you’re onboard, but yes.”

“Yes, but… with me?”  
Peter Lukas pats his cheek. “Oh, I’m quite certain of it,” he answers, meeting Martin’s gaze for the first time. He doesn’t hold it for long, ending it with a small wink before looking away. “Should I send you on your way or am I to keep you with me?”

“You have interviews.”

“I do. Let’s get you settled in my cabin then. Get a proper meal in you, hm? We leave tomorrow and fairly early at that.”

*

The first few days are uneventful. Martin is left alone with a luxurious if bare cabin for the most part. Despite Peter saying he wouldn’t need much in the way of clothing, he’s been given a generous amount - soft sweaters, tight jeans, a silk robe, and pink trainers.

They eat meals together with Martin staring at his strange companion and Peter Lukas staring at his phone.

They share a bed, exchanging little outside of pleasantries.

On day four, Martin wakes up to find he’s taken over the other side of the bed. He’s being held by a rather amused-looking Peter Lukas who seems to have been wide awake during the whole thing.

Peter smiles. “You insisted. It seemed cruel to turn you away.”

“I’m sorry.”

Peter brushes back a stray lock of Martin’s hair and then gets up from the bed. “Don’t be. You’re rather sweet.”

He decides to start bringing Peter tea.

It’s an awkward conversation with Martin blushing and Peter Lukas looking all too pleased to be catered to. It turns out that Peter Lukas likes it to be very sweet too. So sticky and syrupy that it’s hardly tea at all so much as a combination of sugar and milk with an herbal flavoring.

“Or coffee might be best. I drink coffee black,” Peter Lukas admits after his third cup.

The rest of the crew never so much as acknowledges Martin. He always says hello and attempts at first to introduce himself but there’s never a response. It’s as if they don’t even see him most of the time.

Peter watches this, however, with dark eyes. He wants to see what Martin will do about it.

Martin doesn’t know if he impresses or disappoints by letting the matter go each and every time. There’s stories there. Each one of these people has some reason for being here and it’s a twisted tale, far darker than his. There’s something there worth knowing… But Martin is not Jon or Tim or Sasha. He leaves it alone.

On day five, Martin brings Peter coffee and stands beside him for awhile on deck. The wind is fierce, but he’s been provided with a good wool coat that can stand up against it.

“Something on your mind?” Peter asks after making Martin wait fifteen miserable minutes.

“What happens after two weeks? To me?”

“You go home, I suppose. I’ll miss the way you make my coffee.”

Martin rolls his eyes.

“Mm. So very bitter,” Peter continues with a smile. “What is it you think I’ll do, hm? Sail through a foul storm and catch a golden fish and offend the gods? Feed you to some ancient, slumbering god that stirs beneath the waves smack dab in the middle of the ocean to appease them?”

“It just all seems very uneventful so far.”

“It or you?” Peter asks gently, setting down his coffee mug.

“What do you mean?”

“You worry that you’re not important in the grand scheme of things. You’ve decided being set back onshore in two weeks will just confirm it somehow.”

Martin frowns, staring at the sea.

“That if you mattered, you’d be so much bloody chum on the surface of the water to a monster like me. Why is that? Why would being used and sacrificed by some crafty older man make you feel some sense of self worth, Martin?”

“Is there a crafty older man about?” Martin snaps, glaring sternly. “I’m afraid I haven’t met him yet.”

Peter grins. He takes Martin’s hand in his and kisses the back of it. Where Martin is achingly cold, Peter is surprisingly warm. “I’m not particularly kind but I don’t see why I shouldn’t be towards you. You can see how I treat the majority of my guests. If that doesn’t make you feel important, then, I’m not sure what would.”

That night at dinner, Martin takes Peter’s phone and when they both end up on Peter’s side of the bed it isn’t a sleepy accident at all.

*

The days blend together after that and Martin finds himself unhappy on day fourteen. He shoves his new belongings into a duffel bag, reluctantly accepting a new mobile with only Peter’s number in his contacts.

“Oh, but you’ve missed your Archives,” Peter insists. “All of your friends and colleagues... I would assume. You never spoke of them, really. And there’s your mother to think of too.”

Martin blushes in irritation. He ought to have missed it. The idea of leaving at all a month ago would have been too much. Now he feels like going back will flatten him. Turn him back into a hungry ghost who thrives on the experiences of others while he sits in a cubicle drinking lukewarm tea. “The idea was to get away.”

Peter pulls Martin down to sit with him on the bed. “And now that you’re back?”

“...I don’t suppose you have a month long package available?”

Peter smiles. “It can be arranged but not this minute. I’ve projects that need tending to on land.”

Martin sighs heavily. “Will it all be the way I left it?”

“No, I’ve seen to that. Probably should have asked you but honestly you were in need of a renovation and the entire building needed an extensive fumigation. Let me know how the interior designer did. Never worked with her before.”

“...do you own the building?”

Peter shrugs. “My family owns a lot of buildings.”

Martin frowns. He’s not sure he wants to live in a building Peter owns but he honestly can’t afford to move out. And if his flat has gotten an upgrade on top of everything, he’s relatively stuck there.

Peter walks him from the Tundra to the docks to a car with a driver. He holds the door open and smiles again. “Take care of yourself, Martin.”

“I will.”

Martin hesitates there, placing his hand on the car door next to Peter’s. When he kisses him, Martin isn’t sure if he’s more surprised or if Peter is. They’ve kissed before and it’s likely they’ll kiss again, but it’s only in that moment he realizes how much he’ll miss these uneventful two weeks where he was finally enough for someone as he is.

“When in doubt, a fire extinguisher comes in handy,” Peter adds, kissing Martin’s cheek. “CO2 if you’ve got it. You might want to make some sort of kit so you’re prepared.”

“For zombies?”

“For what’s actually coming. Not everyone will be charmed by you.”

Martin ducks his head. “Very few people ever are.”

“It’s just as well,” Peter says, helping Martin into the car. “I’m not good at sharing. Keep your phone handy?”

Martin nods as the door closes and the driver pulls away from the curb.

Peter stands there only briefly before going back to his phone. Maybe to check for the news, maybe to play a puzzle game… Martin isn’t really sure he’s ever seen what Peter has been working on. He’s not sure if Peter works at all. But he’s sure he’ll see him again. And he’s fairly certain he doesn’t mind.

*


End file.
